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"HJ. 'Mu^ JSl.^ 

THIS IREOOiRIDI 

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 

vs. 

THE FALSE DEMOCRACY! 



" Cur cause must be entrusted to, and conducted by, | 
!t8 own undouJbted friends — those whose hands are free, i 
whose hearts are in the work, who do care for the re- 
».ull."'— A. Lincoln^ I 

" This is a world of compensation, and ho who would 
t>€ no slavo must consent to /lave no slave. Those who 
deny freedom to others deserve itnotfor themselves, and 
mder a just God cannot long retain it." — A. Lincoln. 

THE REPUBLICAX PARTV. 

The Republican party was organized to 
resist the encroachments of slavery, pre- 
serve the Union, and promote the develop- 
ment of the resources of the country and 
the material prosperity of the people. 

In the platform adopted j^ Philadelphia in 
lb56 by the first NationarKepublican Con- 
vention, this resolution was embodied : 

''Resolved, That the maintenance of the 
! rinciples promulgated in the Declaration 
of Independence, and embodied in the Fed- 
eral Constitution, is essential to the pres- 
ervation of our republican institutions, and 
that the Federal Constitution, the rights of 
;he States, and the Union of the States shall 
be preserved.'" 

The same Convention declared that it 
was the duty of the Federal Government 
■ secure to all its citizens the rights of life, 
:berty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that 
Congress was endowed with sovereign 
power in all the Territories ; that slavery 
should be prohibited therein, and in favor 
of the construction of the Pacific railroad 
and the improvement of rivers and harbors, 
to the end, that the lives and property of 
Citizens be rendered secure, eomm'f'rco pro- 
moted, and the great natural resources of 
the country developed. 

PLATPOEM OF 1S60. 

The great Convention at Chicago in 1860 
reiterated the declarations of 1856— the 
principles embodied in the Declaration of 
independence, the freedom of the Territo- 
ries, the inviolability of citizenship, the 
equality of all men before the law— and re- 



asserted the duty and power of the Federal 
Government to protect and develop the 
commerce and resources of the whole 
country by works of national importance, 
and to provide homesfeads upon the public 
domain for all of the laboring masses wh* 
may desire to settle and cultivate the same. 

now THESE PROMISES HAVE P.EEN REDEEMED . 

1st. — The Preservation of the Union. — 
So .soon as it was settled ' that Abraham 
Lincoln, the Republican candidate, had been 
elected, the Democracy from one end of 
the Union to the other 'declared for the dis- 
solution of the Government. The Southern 
conspiracy was i-mmediately organized, 
with the declared purpose of overthrowing 
the Constitution, and in this the conspira- 
tors were encouraged by the Kemocrutic lead- 
ers and press in all the Northern States. 

State after .State, under the lead of Soutli- 
ern Democrats, abetted and encouraged by 
their Northern allies, withdrew from the 
National Congress and set up an indepen- 
dent and hostile confederacy. So that, 
when Mr. Lincoln acceded to power, the 
Union was practically broken and war ac- 
tually inaugurated, the armies of the Re- 
public dispersed or quartered in hostile 
territory under treasonable leaders, the 
national vessels disarmed or placed upon 
distant stations, and the Southern arsenals 
and forts, with few exceptions, subjected to 
the power of the enemy. In fact, all had 
been done by the traitorous Democracy 
which power and treason could accompli.?h 
or suggest to destroy the Union and bmld 
up a rival and hostile Government. Such was 
the legacy bequeathed by the Democracy to 
the incoming Republican Administration. 

In his inaugural address, Mr. Lincoln, 
true to the platform upon which he had 
been nominated and elected, declared firmly, 
that the Union nf tiie States would be pre- 



:<Ac^ 






served, and the forts and public property 
repossessed. After four years of desolat- 
ing war this promise was made good. The 
forts and public places Avere reconquered, 
the dissolution of the Uniow rendered im- 
possible by the crushing defeat of the 
armed Democracy. 

In the progress of the contest, the Re- 
publicaii party remained true to all its 
other pledges, and; 

•2d. Enacted a law by which sla%'ery was 
fjrever prohibited in all the Territories, 
aad the equality of citizenship therein de- 
clared and established. 

3d. The Republican party also remera- 
hered and kept its promise to the landless 
laborers of the country by the enactment 
of the Homestead law, under which any 
citizen who will settle upon and cultivate 
a portion of the public domain, may ac- 
quire title thereto by tlie payment of a nomi- 
nal fee. And to render such settlement pos- 
sible and desirable — 

THE I'ACIFIC RAILROADS. 

4th. It has provided for the construc- 
tion of three great trans-continental rail- 
roads, traversing the public domain for more 
than 6,000 miles, and opening to settlement 
aa area of country capable of furnishing 
homes to 50,000,000 of people. Over these 
liaes, when constructed, will pass the rich 
commerce of Europe and the Indies, en- 
riching not only the country and people in 
their A^cinity , but building up great _ com- 
mercial cities and towns in every section of 
the Union connected with the trunk lines by 
latteral roads Or water ways. The exhaust- 
Ipss mineral resources of the great interior 
of the continent will be openedtothe capi- 
tul and enterprise of our people, and the 
idlers who now throng our cities and towns 
will thciefmd attractive and profitable em- 
ployment. The Homestead and Pacific 



THE CIVIL, RIGHTS LAW. 

By this great act, citizenship is forever 
established, and adequate protection pro- 
vided. Under a faithful and honest Admin- 
istration, that provision of the Constitution 
which guarantees to the citizen of auy State 
the privileges of a citizen in any otherState, 
is made operative and effective. Vital as is 
this provision, but for the E-^publicnn party 
it would have remained a dead letter. Itia 
now a potent and living principle. 

EQUAL KEPP.ESKKTATION. 

5th. — The Republican party has dto- 
vided by Constitutional amendment tliat, 
where any persons, on account of race or 
color, are denied the elective franchise, 
they shall not be counted in the basis 
of representation. While slavery existed 
three-fifths of the slaves or colored peo- 
ple were counted in the basis of represen- 
tation from the slave States, while they 
were allowed no vote. By continuing this 
provision the late slave States would, for 
the present colored population, return to 
Congress about 40 Representatives — at the 
same time denying that people any voice 
in their election. This, in some districts 
in the South, would give one man the power 
of three men in the North, or one rebel in 
South Carolina a voice in national affairs 
as potent as the votes of three loyal meu 
in any of the Northern or Northwestern 
States. Rather than surrender tliis unfair 
and inadmissible advantage, every rebel 
State refused to return to the Union. 

Congress,, seeing that the loyal people of 
the South could find no protection from 
the dominant rebel element but in the bal- 
lot, adopted the Military Reconstruction 
Laws, under which free constitutions have 
been established, and every class of citizens 
enfranchised, except a few who are disfran- 
chised for perjury and treason. The pro- 



Railwaye— monuments of Republican faith I Qgg^l g^jjgtjtutioiiai amendment is, how 



aud sagacity— are marching hand in hand 
across "the continent, conquerin.o; at the 
same time the forests, the plains, the moun- 
tains, an international commerce, and the 
prejudices and skepticism of centuries. 
But, with this material progress, the Re- 
publican party has also remembered its 
pledges to the lowly and oppressed. 

THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. 

4th.— It has abolished slavery in all the 
States, and by constitutional amendment 
forever prohibited itn re-establishment with- 
in the States or Territories of the Union. 
It has empowered the National Congress 
to enact laws for the enforcement of equal 
civil rightSj.and, in pursuance of this au- 
thority, Congress has enacted 



ever, adhered to, and will have been adopted 
by three-fourths of the States when this 
reaches the reader. It will produce enfran- 
chisement of the colored race in the other 
States, or withdrawthat race from the basis 
of representation. 

It is thui seen that the Republican party 
has not only redeemed its pledges, made in 
its platforms of 1856 and 1860, but has 
moved forward with the great events of the 
domestic conflict in which the nation was 
involved; has read with unerring sagacity 
the lessons of the time, and embraced the 
progress and enforced the reforms which 
they indicated and demanded. We say the 
Republican party has done this, because, 
in every advance, the whole power of the 



Democratic party has been interposed as a 
barrier to progress. In proof of this the 
following is submitted: 

1st. — The abolition of slavery in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia was opposed by the whole 
strength of the Democratic party in Con- 
gress and supported by every Republican. 

2d. — The prohibition of slavery in all the 
Territories was unitedly supported by the 
Republicans, and as unitedly opposed by 
the Democracy. 

3d. — Setting free the slaves of rebels was 
accomplished by aunited Republican against 
a united Democratic vote. 

4th. — Authorizing the enlistment of col- 
ored soldiers was carried by Republican 
votes against the united opposition of the 
Democrats in Congress. 

5tli. — The return of slaves to their mas- 
ters by the Union troops was advocated by 
the Democracy, and even practised by 
General McClellan," but was prohibited in 
an additional article of war adopted by 
Republican votes. 

Gth. — The Emancipation Proclamation of 
President Lincoln was opposed and de- 
nounced by the Democratic and rebel press 
and leaders throughout the country, and 
advocated and sustained by Republicans 
everywhere. A Democratic Senator de- 
clared in his place that, "If you should lib- 
erate the slaves in the rebellious States, the 
momentyou reorganize the white inhabitants 
of those States, as States in the Union, they 
would reduce these slaves again to a state 
cf slavery, or they would expel them, or 
hunt them as wild beasts and exterminate 
them." And the conduct of the leading 
rebels since the war has demonstrated, that 
but fbr the interposition of the Republican 
Congress, the prediction of this Democratic 
Senator might now be history. 

7th. — Conferring the right of suffrage 
upqn colored men in the Territories was 
opposed by every Democrat in Congress 
and supported by all the Republicans. 

Sth. — The enfranchisement of the colored 
people of the rebel States has been, at 
every step, opposed by every Democrat in 
Congress, and by all the leaders of that party 
in every section of the country, and sup- 
ported and carried by Republican votes 
only. 

With such a record as this staring him in 
the face, where is there a loyal colored man 
who can support the Democratic party ? 
If there be one suah, let lum read and re- 
flect upon this record of Democratic oppo- 
sition to his liberty and safety. 

THE UOMESTEAD LAW. 

This great measure in behalf of the labor- 



ing people of the country, which had been 
many ^^ears under discussion by the people, 
was, in 1859, first sanctioned by Congress, 
against the opposition of a majority of tho 
Democrats, being carried by a unitod Re- 
publican vote and some few Democrats, but 
it was vetoed by President Buchanan, in 
obedien«eto the dictation of tho Democratic 
leaders. Tho exigencies of the war pre- 
vented its further coneldoration until 1802, 
when the measure was passed by the Re- 
publican Congress, and approved by Abra- 
ham Lincoln. 

THE SOUTHERN HOMESTEAD. 

After the close of the rebellion the ques- 
tion of homes for the landless millions of 
the South came before the Republican 
Congress for consideration. It was ascer- 
tained that the Government still held in 
the rebel States about 50,000,000 acres cf 
public land, and that with this exception 
the whole landed estate of the South was 
in the hands of the late wealthy slave-own- 
ers. Practically the soil of those States was 
monopolized by a few hundred thousand 
men, while more than five millions of people 
were both without homes and without the 
means to purchase them, and, to aggravate 
their condition still more, the land monopo- 
lists were unwilling to sell to the landless. 

Upon this state of facts the Land Com- 
mittee of the House promptly reported a 
bill, reserving all the public lands in the 
rebel States from sale or disposal except to 
actual settlers under the Homestead law, 
limiting entries to eighty acres. 

Strange to say, this beneficent and ne- 
cessary measure was opposed by the united 
strength of the Democratic party in Con- 
gress ; but the measure became a law by 
Republican votes, and many of the poor 
laboring men of the South have alreacy 
acquired homes under it. 

RESTORATION OF COXFISCATEO PROFERTV TO 
LOYAL OWNERS. 

In striking contrast, but in strict keep- 
ing with their votes on the Southern home- 
stead, is the united vote of the Democracy 
in Congress against restoring to loyal own- 
ers property confiscated by the rebel C!ov- 
ernment and used in aid of the rebel cause. 
The bill to restore lands and tenements of 
loyal owners, which had been confiscated 
by the rebel Government, was reported by 
the House Judiciary Committee. On a 
motion to lay on the table, which if carried 
would have defeated the bill, every Demo- 
crat but one voted in the affirmative, every 
Republican in the negative. See House 
proceedings, July 24, 18C6. 



^d^NSTi (; 



1<8. 



IMPEACHMENT. 

On every vote relating to the impeach- 
iueat of President Johnson for usurpa- 
tions and high crimes and misdemeanors, 
of which lie stands ooavictcd by a two- 
thirds vote of both Houses of Congress, less 
one vote in the Senate and by the judg- 
ment of the American people, every Demo- 
cratic vote was cast to excuse Mr. John- 
son, thereby endorsing and assuming the 
responsibility of his acts. 

THE OATH OF ATTORNEYS. 

Oa the bill excluding from practice in the 
courts attorneys auilty of treason, felony, 
bribery, or murder, or of aiding the rebel- 
lion againgt the Government of the United 
States, every Democrat voted against and 
every Republican for the bill. 

VALIDATING CERTAIN TROCLAMATIONS OF 
PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 

A bill was introduced into the House 
declaring valid the acts and proclamations 
of the President in defense of the Govern- 
ment, done and made prior to July 1, 1866 ; 
passed — ayee 112, all Republicans ; nays 
32, all Democrats. Senate — ayes 36, Re- 
publicans ; naya 8, Democrats. 

BOUNTIES TO SLAVE-OWNERS. 

On the bill suspending the payment of 
bounties to owners of enlisted slaves the 
vote was — ayes 107, all Republicans ; nays 
36, all Democrats. House proceedings, 
January 14, 18C7, 

AMENDMENT OF TUB CONSTITUTION. 

The proposed amendment to the Consti- 
tution, known as the fourteenth article, 
has not only been opposed by every Dem- 
ocrat in Congress, but by every Democrat 
in every State Legislature, simply because 
it equalizes the power of voters in the sev- 
eral States of the Union, and disfranchises 
some of the prominent rebels, who are 
guilty of both treason and perjury. 

In two of the States, where temporary 
Dsmocratic majorities have been obtained, 
the ratification of this amendment has 
been rescinded; a plain indication that all 
the practical measures of Congress for the 
protection of loyal men will be repealed 
should the rebel Democracy attain the as- 
cendency in the National Legislature. 

The amendment further provides that the 
validity of the public debt authorized by 
law, including debts incurred for the pay- 
ment of pensions and bounties for services 
in suppressing the rebellion, shall not be 
<^ucstioncd. And, that neither the States 
nor the United States, shall ever assume 
•or pay any debt contracted in aid of the 



rebellion, or any claim for the loss of 
emancipated slaves. These propositions 
have not only been supported by all the 
Republicans in Congress and in tLe whole 
country, but have been opposed by all the 
Democrats in and out of Congress and hv 
all the Southern rebels. 

Why should the Democrats so persist- 
ently oppose these just safejpiar^s, unless 
it is their purpose to repudiate the national 
obligations? If they_intend to pay the na- 
tional debt, including pensions and bounties, 
why not say so in the Constitution ? If 
they do not intend to pay the rebel debt 
and claims for emancipated slaves, why not 
prohibit their payment in the Constitution? 
Let some Democrat answer these questions. 

THE READMISSION OF THE STATES. 

On the recent bills for the readmission 
of Arkansas, North and South Carolina, 
Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana, 
with their free and liberal constitutions, 
every Democrat voted in the negative in 
both Houses of Congress. They hold the 
restoration of these States as unconstitu- 
tional, and only await a Democratic ma- 
jority in Congress to repeal the law, dis- 
franchise the colored people, and welcome 
the States back under the control of the 
rebel leaders ; in fact, a practical reor- 
ganization of the rebellion. Witness the 
vote of the Democratic members and Sena- 
tors in Congress, and the protest of the 
Democratic members of the House against 
the .idmission of Arkansa-s. Also, the fol- 
lowing declaration of the Democratic can- 
didate for the Vice Presidency, which was 
written for the purpose, and had the eflfect, 
of producing his nomination. Here is what 
he says : 

'* There is but one way to restore the Gov 
ernment and the Constitution, and that is 
for the Presidentelect to declare iMse acts mill 
and void, compel the army to undo its usur- 
pation at the South, disperse the carpet-bag 
State governments, allow the white people to 
reorganize their own governments, and elect 
Senators and llepresentatives. 



REPUBLICAN PLATFORM. 

The Nati07ial Bepublican Party of the United 
States, assembled in National Convention 
in the City of Chicago, on the 20th day of 
May, 1868, make the following declaration 
of principles : 

1. We congratulate the country on the 
assured success of the Reconstruction policy 
of Congress, as evinced by the adoption in 
the majoritv of the Statos lately in rebellion 



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of constitutions securing equal- civil and 

2)olitical ri^jhts to all, and it is the duty of 
tliG Governinont to sustain those institutions 
and to prevent tlie people of such States from 
being remitted to a state of anarchy. 

.2. The guarantee by Congress of equal 
suffrage to all loyal men at the South was 
demanded by evory consideration of public 
safety, of gratitude, and of justice, aud must 
be maintained ; while the question of suf- 
frage in all the loyal States properly belongs 
to the people of those States. 

3. We denounce all forms of repudiation 
as a national crime, and the national honor 
requires the payment of the public indebted- 
ness in the uttermost good faith to all cred- 
itors at home and abroad, not only accord- 
ing to the letter but the spirit of the laws 
under which it was contracted. 

4. It is due to the labor of the nation that 
taxation should be equalized, and reduced 
as rapidly as the national faith will permit. 

5. The national debt contracted, as it has 
b*en, for tke preservation of the Union for 
all time to come, should be extended over 
a fair period for redemption ; and it is 'he 
duty ol Congress to reduce th._» rate of inter- 
est thereon whenever it can be honestly 
done. 

G. That the best policy to diminish our 
burden of debt is to so improve our credit 
that capitalists will seek to loan us money 
at lower x-ates of interest than we now pay, 
and must continue to pay so long as repudi- 
ation, partial or total, open or covert, is 
threatened or suspected. 

7. The Government of the United States 
should be administered with the strictest 
economy, and the corruptions which have 
been so shamefully nursed and fostered by 
Andrew Johnson call loudly Tor radical 
reform. 

8. We_ profoundly deplore the untimely 
and tragic death of Abraham Lincoln, and 
regret the accession of Andrew Johnson to 
the Presidency, whohas aeted treacherously 
to the people who elected him and the cause 
he was jdedged to support ; who has warped 
high legislative and judicial functions ; who 
has refused to execute the laws ; who has 
used his high otHce to induce other officers to 
ignore and violate the laws ; who has cm- 
ployed his executive powers to render inse- 
cure the property, the peace, liberty and life 
of the citizen; who has abused the pardon- 
ing power; who has denounced the National 
Legislature as unconstitutional: who has 
persistently und corruptly resisted'. '>y every 
measure in his power, every prop-r Attempt 
at the reconstruction of the States lately in 
rebellion; who has perverted the public 
patronage into an engine of wholesale cor- 
ruption, and who has been justly impeached 



for high crimes and misdemeanors, and 

prop'jrly pronounced guitlythereofby the vote 
ot 30 Senators. 

9. The doctrine of Great Britain and other 
European powers, that because a man is 
once a subject he is always so, must be re- 
sisted at every hazard by the United States, 
as a relic of the feudal times, not author- 
ized by the law of nations, and at war with 
our national honor and independence. Na- 
turalized citizens are entitled to be protect- 
ed in all their rights of citizenship as though 
they were native born, and no citizen of the 
United States, native or naturalized, must 
be liable to arrest and imprisonment by any 
foreign power for acts done or words spoken 
in this country ; and if so arrested and im- 
prisoned, it is the duty of the Government 
to interfere in his behalf 

10. Of all who were faithful in the trials 
of the late war, there were none entitled to 
more especial honor than the brave soldiers 
and seamen who endivred the hardships of 
campaign and cruise and imperiled their 
lives in the service of the country ; the boun- 
ties and pensions provided by the laws for 
these brave defenders of the nation are ob- 
ligations never to be forgotten ; the widows 
aud orphans of the gallant dead are the 
wards of the people, a sacred legacy be- 
queathed to the nation's protecting care. 

11. Foreign emigration— which in the 
past has added so much to the wealth, devel- 
opment, and resources and increase of power 
to this nation, the asylum of the oppressed 
of all nations— should be fostered and en- 
couraged by a liberal and just policy. 

12. This Convention declares itself in 
sympathy with all the oppressed people 
which are struggling for their rights. 

ADDITIONAL UESOLCTIOXS. 

Iiesoh-ed, That we highly commend the 
spirit of magnanimity and forbearance with 
which the men who have served in the re- 
bellion, but now frankly and honestly co- 
operate with us in restoring the country and 
reconstructing the Southern State govern- 
ments upon the basis of impartial justice 
and equal rights, are received back into the 
communion of the loyal people ; and we 
favor the removal of the disqualifications 
and restrictions placed upon the late rebels 
in the same measure as their spirit of loy- 
alty will direct, and as may be consistent 
with the safety of the loyal people. 

Resolved, That we recognize the great 
principles laid down in the immortal Decla- 
ration of Independence as the true founda- 
tion of democratic government, and we hail 
with gladness every effort toward making 
these principles a living reality on every incS 
of American soil. 



6 



LETTER OF GEN. U. S. GRANT 

Accepting the Republican Nomination. 

Washington, D. C, May 29, 1868." 
General Jos. R. Eawley, President Na- 
tional Union Republican Convention : 
In formally accepting the nomination of 
the National Union Republican Convention 
of the 21st of May inst., it seems proper 
that some statement of views beyond the 
mere acceptance of the nomination should 
be expressed. The proceedings of the Con- 
vention were marked with wisdom, modera- 
tion, and patriotism, and I believe express 
the feelings of the great mass of those who 



When a great rebellion wjiich imperiled 
the national existence was at last over- 
thrown, the duty of all others devolving 
on those intrusted with the responsibilities 
of legislation evidently was, to require that 
the revolted States should be readmitted 
to participation in the Government against 
which they had warred, only on such a 
basis as to increase and fortify, not to 
weaken or endanger, the strength of the 
nation. Certainly no one ought to have 
claimed that they should be readmitted 
under such rules that their organizations 
as States could ever again be used, as ; 
the opening of the war, to def3^ the n 
tional authority or to destroy the national 
unity. This principle has been the pola 



e' 
'I 



sustained the country through its recent star' of those who have inflexibly insisted 

trials. I endorse their resolutions. . on the Congressional policy your Conven- 

If elected to the office of President of tion so cordially indorsed, 

the United States it will be my endeavor b^qj^j ^^ executive opposition and per- 

to admmister all the laws m good faith, g-^^^^^^ refusals to accept any plan of re- 



with economy and with the view of giving 
peace, quiet, and protection everywhere. In 
times like the present it is impossible, or at 
least eminently improper, to lay down a 
policy to be adhered to right or wrong 
through an administration of four years. 
New political issues not foreseen are con- 
stantly arising ; the views of the public on 
old ones are constantly changing, and a 
purely administrative officer should always 
be left free to execute the will of the people. 
I always have respected that will and always 
shall. 

Peace and universal prosperity, its se- 
quence, with economy of administration, 
will lighten the burden of taxation, while it 
constantly reduces the national debt. Let 
us have peace. 

With great respect, your obedient servant, 
U. S. GRANT. 



LETTER OF SCHUYLER COLFAX 

Accepting the Republican Nominhtion. 



Washington, D. C, May 30, 1868. 
Hon. J. R. Haioley, President of the Na- 
tional Union Republican C^onvention : 

Dear Sir ; The platform adopted by the 
patriotic Convention over which you pre- 
sided, and the resolutions which so happily , „ , 
supplement it, so entirely agree with my | soil where they first saw the light 



construction proffered by Congress, justice 
and public safety at last combined to teach 
us that only by an enlargement uf suffrage 
in those States could the desired end be 
attained, and that it was even more sale to 
give the ballot to those who loved the 
Union than to those who had sought icef- 
fectually to destroy it. The assured sac-, 
cess of this legislatiou is being written en 
the adamant of history, and will be our 
triumphant vindication. 

More clearly, too, than ever before does 
the nation now recognize that the greatest ,, 
glory of a republic is that it throws tfce 
shield of its protection over the humblest 
and the weakest of its people, and vina> 
cates the rights of the poor and the povver- 
less as faithfully as those of the rich atd 
the powerful. I rejoice, too, in this Conven- 
tion to tind in your platform the frank and 
fearless avowal that the naturalized citizea 
must be protected abroad " at every haz- 
ard as though they were native boru." Our 
whole peoi)le are foreigners or descendants 
of foreigners. Our fathers established by 
arms their right to be called a nation : it 
remains for us to establish the right U) wel- 
come to our shores all who are wiliirji^ by 
oaths of allegiance to become Amencau 
citizens. Perpetual allegiance, as claimed 
abroad, is only another name for perpetua,! 
bondage, and would make all slaves to the 

Our 



views as to a just national policy, that my 
thanks are due to the delegates as much for 
this clear and auspicioits declaration of 
principles as for the nomination with 
which I have been honored, and which I 
gratefully accept. 



national cemeteries prove how faithfully 
these oaths of fidelity to their adopted land 
have been sealed in the life blood of thou- 
sands upon thousands. Should we then 
be faithless to the dead if we did not pro- 
tCjCt their living brethren in the enjoyment; 



of that nationality for which, side by side | 
with the native born, our soldiers of for- j 
eign birth laid down their lives? 

It was fitting, too, that the representa- | 
tivefi of a party which had proved so true 
to national dnty in time of war, should I 
speak so clearly in time of peace for the | 
mainteuanee untarnished of national honor, 
national credit and good faith, as regards ; 
i:s debt, the cost of our national existence. | 
<" r do not need to extend this reply by fur- 1 
tlier comment on a platform which has j 
elicited such hearty approval throughout , 
the land; the debt of gratitude itacknowl- 1 
edires to the brave men who saved the Union | 
from destruction; the frank approval of j 
amnesty based on repentance and loyalty; 
the demand for the most thorough economy 
and honesty in the Government; the sympa- 
thv of the party of liberty with all through- 
out the world who long for the liberty we 
here enjoy and the recognition of the sub- 
lime principles of the Declaration of_ Inde- 
pendence are worthy of the organization on 
whose banners they are to be written in 
the coming contest. Its past record can- 
not be blotted out or forgotten. If there 
had been no llepublican party slavery 
would to-day cast its baleful shadow over 
the Republic. If there had been no Re- 
publican party a free press and free speech 
would be as unknown from the Potomac to 
the Rio Grande as ten years ago. If the 
Republican party could have been stricken 
from existence when the banner of the re- 
bellion was unfurled, and when the response 
of "no coercion'' was heard at the North, 
we would have had no nation to-day. But 
for the Republican party daring to risk 
the odium of tax and draft laws, our flag 
could not have been kept flying on the field 
till the long-looked for victory came. 
"Without a Republican party the Civil Rights 
bill, the guarantee of equality under the 
law to the humble and the defenceless, as 
well ad to tlie strong, would not be to-day 
upon our national statute book. 

With such inspirations from the past, 
and following the example of the founders 
of the Republic, who called the victorious 
General of the Revolution to preside over 
the land his triumphs had saved from its 
enemies, I cannot doubt that our labors 
will be crowned with success, and it will be 
a Success that will bring restored hope, 
confidence, prosperity, and progress — South 
as well as North, West as well as East — 
and, above all, the blessings, under Provi- 
dence, of national concora and peace. 
Very truly yours, 

SCHUYLER COLFAX. 



RECORD No. 2. 



DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES, 1863- 

It will be seen by a careful perusal of 
the platform of principles adopted by 
the Republican Convention which nom- 
inated Grant and Colfax, that there is a 
firm adherence to the policy and measures 
which have repeatedly received the sanc- 
tion of the American people. 

That the loyal State governments which 
have been organized in pursuance of law 
are to be maintained, the basis of equal 
rights before the law to be adhered to, thd 
puljlic faith at home and abroad to be 
strictly observed, the burden of the na- 
tional debt reduced as rapidly as the re- 
sources of the country will permit, the 
corruptions fostered by a recreant Execu- 
tive exposed and reformed, the rights of 
American citizens at home and abroad to 
be protected and defended, the obligations 
of the nation to its heroic defenders to be 
redeemed, foreign emigration invited, the 
principles of the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence made effective, and the right-hand 
of fellowship to be extended to all those 
lately in rebellion, who have honestly and 
earnestly aided the work of restoration on 
principles of impartial justice and in ac- 
cordance with the loyal sentiment of the 
nation. 

THE LETTERS OF ACCEPTANCE. 

The letters of General Grant and Hon. 
Schuyler Col/ax accepting the Republican 
nomination, are models of brevity and pa- 
triotism. They give forth no uncertain 
sound. They are a square acceptance of 
the principles of the Republican party, 
and an unqualified declaration that the will 
of the nation will be respected. No per- 
sonal or Presidential policy is to be inter- 
posed to thwart the expressed will of the 
people. 

These letters should be read by every 
Republican. They contain no unmeaning 
phrases, designed to deceive the people. 
They will bear the same construction in 
every section of the country, and therefore 
are such as become the national candidates 
of a great national party. 

THE CANDIDATES. 

For President, U. S, Grant. 

The candidate of the Republican party 
for President, G^eral U. S. Grant, was 
selected with greater unanimity than has 
been any Other candidate for the same ofi&ce 
since the days of Washington. His was 



8 



not the nomination of a caucus or conven- 
tion, but the choice of the loyal people. 
The members of the Convention -who nom- 
inated General Grant but gave expression 
to the positive instructions with which 
they were charged. lie accepts the place 
and promises to discharg'e the duties in 
obedience to the popular judgment. 

lie was not chosen to reward him for 
the great service he had rendered the 
country, but because the country requires 
his services in the place to which he has 
been nominated, and will be chosen. 

To quiet the turbulence of unrepentant 
rebels, allay the spirit of discord engendered 
by the war, give peace and security to the 
whole country, establish justice, secure 
economy in the administration of the Gov- 
ernment, stability and prosperity to all the 
industrial interests of the nation, allay the 
intensity of party strife, and discover and 
develop the great material resources of the 
country, requires at this time, not a mere 
partizan, but a man of firm purposes, of 
unostentatious demeanor, of inflexible tena- 
city and of unquestioned patriotism ; one 
in whom all sections may confide, whom 
loyal men may trust and rebels and dis- 
organizers fear and respect. Because Gen. 
Grant possesses those qualities in a high 
degree, unstained by mere partizanship and 
untarnished by mistakes or blunders in the 
discharge of public trusts, ho has been se- 
lected •, and because the people can confide 
in him, he will bf- elected. It is not mili- 
tary renown, but solid and reliable states- 
manship, that has placed him in the front 
at this time. It was not the preference of 
politicians, but the exigencies of country 
which led the people to demand the nomi- 
nation of G^e?t. Grant. The same unerring 
popular judgment which conducted the na- 
tion to triumph over the rebellion, has de- 
manded that the consequences of the national 
success shall inure to the country, and that 
the national destiny shall bo entrusted to 
"its own undoubted friends, whose hands 
arc free, whose hearts are in the work, who 
do care for the result," and who in peace 
as in war can command success. It is not 
by words but by works that Gen. Grant 
is known. It is by works that he is to be 
elected, by works that his duty is to be 
performed, by works that peace and safety, 
and liberty, and justice are to be secured. 
Ey the same sign which gave success in 
the Held — the united and determined sup- 
port of all loyal men-»-will victory be won 
in the forum. The same issues arc involved 
in the contest. Substantially the same 



leaders are arrayed on either side, acu. as 
the people rally to the standard of the iuet 
or the unjust, will victory or defeat come lo 
the respective standard "bearers. 

For Vice President, Sclmyhrr Colfa.:. \ 

Here we have a pure, an ineorru|):il;Ie 1 
statesman. One who by his industry, hi^ 
ability, and his devotion to the cause cf tho 
country has won the confidence and respfcr 
of the American people. By no act cr' 
violence will the enemies of the couttry 
seek to bring this unflinching patriot to the 
head of the Government. His recti-d 's 
unblemislied, his character unquestko' cl, 
and his success undoubted. Ileis emphui- -i 
cally the representative of the younger ixd ij 
more ardent of the Republican phalans. * 

Thus, with a record in defense of liberty 
unimpcached, covered with honors in Sup- 
port of the Union, with all its measures j 
fully endorsed and its policy fully san:- j 
tioned by the people, the Eepublican party ' 
enters "upon the contest with its old and 
oft-defeated opponents, led by candidates I 
who, under favorable or unfavorable cir- 1 
cumstances, have always achieved success. 
As in the past, it contends, now for the 
unity and perpetuity of the nation, for hu- 
man rights, and for the mental and mate- 
rial development of the country and its 
people. Its opponents, on the contrary, 
are led by the late enemies of the nation, 
contending for the mastry with the avowed 
purpose of defeating the restoration of the 
States and re-establishing a hated despi t- 
ism based upon race, and which is detri- 
mental alike to the masses of the people c f 
every race, and fatal to human rights ..nd 
progress in every clime. Between -v.ch 
opposing forces no patriot can hesitate. 
Not to act is to shamefully submit t > de- 
feat, and not to act with the Republican 
party, is to aid in erecting a despotism of 
class upon the broken and scattered frag- 
ments of a defeated Itarbarism, which is 
covered with crime and fresh from the as- 
sault upon the national life. No glowing 
promises which the Democratic party ^v.il 
now make, can wipe off the record of liood 
which its leaders have graven upon the 
hearts of the people. With the massacres 
of Fort Pillow, Andersouvllle, Saulsb-.ry, 
Belle Isle, and New Orleans iascribed upo . 
their standard, the Democracy and the r 
rebel allies will plead in vain for Uic sop- 
port of loyal liberty-loving men. The des- 
tinies of the nation cannot now be cntru.sted 
to hands reeking with the blood of loyal 
victims. 



PRINTED AT TIIK OFFICE OF THE GREAT ifkpCBI.TC, WASHINGTOX, D. C, 



:regoi^3D jsro. 2. 



DEMOCRATIC PROFESSIONS 

"VS. 

DEMOCRATIC PRACTICE. 

THEIR PARTY AND' PLATFORM REVIEWED. 



Published I7 the Union Repnlilicaa Congressional Gommittoo, "Wastiugton, D, C. 



The time waa, v.-1icq Vim Deiuocratic party 
was a party of progress and principles; but 
even priorto the rebellion, it bad long since 
out-lived its usefulness. Following the ex- 
ample of Jefferson, Madison and a host of 
the earliei' statesmen and patriots, the Demo- 
cratic party contributed largely to the ad- 
vancement of the principlc-s of republican 
government, and the security of individual 
rights; but, when it threvr aside the armor 
of liberty, ignored and derided the great 
truths enunciated in the Declaration of In- 
dependence, and embraced the rotten and 
despotic theories of Calhoun, Rhett, Toombs, 
Yancey, SJidell, and their co-conspirators, 
the great party itself, became a conspiracy; 
not only against the Union of the States, 
but also against the liberty of man. When 
it declared, through its leader:^, for the di- 
vinity of slavery, it became the foe of lib- 
erty — and the advocate and slave of dts- 
potism. From the time it ceased to honor 
its great statesmen, and commenced to re- 
ward only the truculent tools of a corrupt 
and despotic leadership, it became the 
enemy 01 liberty — the implacable opponent 
of the Union. It consented, in 1860, to its 
own disruption at Charleston and Baltimore, 
that the foundation for the dissolution of 
the Union might be securely laid. 

The power of the Union to protect and 
preserve liberty wa.s the only source of its 
offense to the Democratic leaders. Fear- 
ipg the exercise of that power by the Re- 
publicans, they organized rebellion and 
sought to e:-tablish a Government v/hosc 
cornerstone should be tslavcry, and the 
Vi'h'jle structure of which should consist of 
states torn from the national Union. 



Singly and by pairs and squads the Demo- 
cratic leaders of the South, in tho legisla- 
tive and executive departments of the 
GovernmeHt, boldly, defiantly marched out 
of the high places they had betrayed and 
dishonored, not only unrebuked, but 
cheered and encouraged by their Northern 
allies. Not a man but was a Democrat 
went into rebellion ; not a man but was a 
Democrat sympathised with or aided re- 
bellion. The rebellion was, in its concep-* 
tion and progress, a Democratic measure, 
inaugurated^ advocated, conducted, de- 
fended, and supported by none but Demo- 
crats. Its purpose was the esta])]ishment 
of a slave empire. Its advocates held that 
capital should owu labor, that slavery was 
a divine institution. 

Upon such theories and for guch pur- 
poses was the Democratic party, by the 
voluntary action of its leaders, dissolved, 
and the war for the disrnptipn of the Union 
entered wpon with the approval of these 
loaders in every section of the country. 

At tho first National Convention of the 
Democratic party after the inauguration of 
rebellion — at Chicago, in 18G4 — the Dem- 
ocratic leaders, though separated from their 
Southern allies by pending hostilities, did 
not fail to express their syjnpathv with 
their old allies, declare the war lor the 
preservation of the Union a failure, and 
the restoration of tho Union as it tvas tho 
only road to peace. 

Strange to say, the same leaders who 
made, conducted, and consented to the re- 
bellion still control the Democratic party. 
They were the ruling power in the national 
nomiuatingConvention recently assembled, 



tLld 

toKuX 



and succeeded in forcing upon the party, 
candidates and a platform pledged to re 
newal of strife, even to war, if need be, in 
the interest of the defeated authors of the 
rebellion, and ^Yilh the avowed purpose of 
restoring to its control men fresh from an 
assault upon the natiouval life. Can any 
further evidence be required of the utter 
unfitness of the Democratic party under its 
present leadership to rule the country. 

True, these wily and unprincipled lead- 
ers have, in the platform adopted by their 
4th of July Convention made some specious 
promises. But what are their promises 
worth ? Their whole political career is but 
a schedule of violated pledges and unmean- 
ing pretensions. 

As actions are a better index than words 
to the purposes of men, let us test the 
promises of these leaders by their practice; 
compare their words with their actions, 
leaving to honest men the conclusions. 

The late Democratic Convention, which 
selected as its candidates Horatio Seymour 
and Frank P. Blair, commences its plat- 
form with the following declarations: 

" The Democratic party, in National Con- 
vention assembled, reposing its trust in the 
intelligence, patriotism, and discriminating 
justice of the people, standing upon the 
Constitution as the foundation and limita- 
tion of the pov/ers of the Government, and 
the guaranty of tlie liberties of the citizen, 
and recognizing the questions of slavery and 
secession as having been settled, for all time 
to come, by the war or the voluntary action 
of the Southern States in Constitutional Con- 
ventions assembled, and never to be renewed 
or reagitated, do, with the return of peace, 
demand — 

''First. Immediate restoration of all the 
States to their rights in the Union, under the 
Constitution, and of civil government to the 
American people- 

''Second. Amnesty for all past political 
offences, and the regulation of the elective 
franchise in the States by their citizens," 

Hero v.'o hare, 1st. The stereotyped 
declaratioaof devotion to the Constitution 
by a body of men, one-third of whom are 
fresh from a four years' war against the 
Constitution, and the other tvro-thirdg of 
whom fully sympathized with efforts to 
overthrow the Government. 

What faith can be placed in the pretended 
veneration of such men as Hampton, For- 
rest, Vallandigbam, Seymour, and Clymer, 
and the other leaders of that Convention, 
ail of whom either Tought against the Con- 
stitution, or remaining in safe places, ex- 
erted all their povrcr and influence to de- 



feat the efforts of the Government for its 
preservation ? 

2d. A simple recognition that with thc5 
downfall of the rebellion, slavery actually 
perished, but there is no acceptance of the 
logical consequences which follow the ex- 
tinction of slavery. The freed people are 
wholly ignored. 

Slavery abolished and the right of seces- 
sion still maintained. These are all the re- 
sults of the war as understood by the Democ- 
racy. In all other respects the States are, 
as they were, to be held in the iron grasp of 
a governing class, a privileged aristocracy, 
who are to lord it over 5,000,000 of the 
subject race, and retain in ignorance and 
degradation all of their own race not mem- 
bers of the favored class. That is, the 
300,000 old slave masters, who made and 
conducted the rebellion, are to take posses- 
sion of the conquered States and people 
and run the Government machine in the 
old groove. 

LET THEIR WITNESSES TESTIFV. 

Tliat the purpose of the Democracy is, to 
destroy the reconstructed State govern- 
ments, and restore the rebel leaders to 
power and control — let their candidates, 
and the men who controlled their conven- 
tion witness: 

[Extracts from letter of Frank P. Blair, June 30, 18GS J 

"The Reconstruction policy of the radicals 
will be complete before the next election: 
the States, so long back excluded will have 
been admitted ; negro suffrage established, 
and the carpet-baggers installed in their 
seats in both branches of Congress. There 
is no possibility of changing the political 
character of the Senate, even if the Demo- 
crats should elect their President and a ma- 
jority of the popular branch of Congress. 
We cannot, therefore, undo the radical plan 
of reconstruction by Congressional action; 
the Senate will continue a bar to its repeal. 
Must we submit to it? IIow can it b«i over- 
thrown ? It can only be overthrown by the 
authority of the Executive, who is sworn to 
maintain the Constitution, and who will fail 
to do his duty if he allows the Constitution 
to perish uuder a series of Congressional en- 
actments which arc in palpable violation of 
its fundamental-principles. 

"If the President elected by the Democ- 
racy enforces or permits others to enforce 
these reconstruction acts, the radicals by the 
accession of twenty .spurious Senators and 
fifty Representatives, will control both 
branches of Congress, and his administra- 
tion will be as powerless as the present one 
of Mr. Joliuson. 



^^ There is hut one jcay to restore the Gov- 
ernment and the Constitution, and that is for 
the President-elect to declare these acts null 
and void, compel the army to undo its tisurpa- 
iions at the South, disj)C7'se the carpetbag 
State governments, allow the uhite people to 
reorganize their own governments, and elect 
Senators and Eepresentatives, The House 
of Xcprcsentatives icill contain a major it }j of 
Democrats from the North, and the;/ iciU ad- 
mit the Eejn-esentativcs elected by the white 
2^eopl6 of the South, and, with the co-opera- 
tion of the President it will not he difficult to 
compel the Senate to submit once viore to the 
obligations of the Constitution. It will not 
be able to withstand the public judgment, 
if distinctly invoked and clearly expressed 
' on this fundamental issue, and it is the sure 
way to avoid all future strife to jiut the issue 
plainly to the country. 

^^ I repeat that this is the real and only 
question which ice shoidd alloic to control us. ' ' 

It was upon this letter that Frank P. 
Blair obtained the nomination. It was the 
sentiment of this letter which brought 
Wade Ilampton, and Gen. Forrest to his 
support. y 

Senator Bayard understands the platform 
and the Blair letter to be' substantially the 
same. lie says: ''It (the platform) is in 
accord, in some measure, with the senti- 
ments of the able statesman and gallant sol- 
dier who received the nomination for Vice 
President, General Frank Blair, of Mis- 
souri." 

Speaking of the Blair letter the Churlotts- 
ville (Va.) Chrcnicle says : 

'■^Thcre cannot be two opinions among those 
who desire to see the Constitution re-estab- 
lished as to the doctrine of the letter, and we 
believe that the chances are in its favor as a 
matter of politics at this time. 

"The Democratic party is nothing unless it 
is bold and aggressive, and (he Blair letter, as 
well as the previous record of the General, 
furnish very good guarr.ntees that he is the 
man to give it that character." 

The Lynchburg Virginian of the same 
date is equally explicit in its endorsement 
of Blair's revolutionary programme. Af- 
ter denouncing the fourteenth nmcndmcnt 
and the reconstruction acts as a farce, it 
says: 

"Frank Blair proposes to dramatize the 
reconstruction acts in a way that would plague 
the inventors " smartly." We hope that the 
reins of Government will be placed in the 
hands of men who will have the nerve to 
uivdo. at any hazard, the wrong that has been 
done." 

These arc but samples of the maimer in 



which the Democratic candidates and plat- 
form are received at the South. The Blair 
letter is the key note to the campaign. It 
furnishes the rule for the construction of 
the platform. Every other issue is merged 
in the one fact that the reorganized State 
governments must be destroyed. This 
done, and the rebel leaders placed in con- 
trol, all else becomes easy. The national 
debt may be repudiated or the rebel debt 
assumed at pleasure. 

As claimed by the rebel orators, the elec- 
tion of Seymour and Blair is to be the tri- 
umph of the "lost cause," it is to gain by 
the ballot all they lost by the bayonet. 

Governor "Wise, of Virginia, in a recent 
speech declared that he admitted the loss 
of slavery, but adhered to the right of se- 
cession which would yet triumph. 

FINANCE AND THE PUBLIC DEBT. 

On this subject the Democratic platform 
presents the following : 

Third. Payment of the public debt of the 
United States as rapidly as practicable ; all 
moneys drawn from the people by taxation, 
except so much as is requisite for the neces- 
sities of the Government, economically ad- 
miuestered, being honestly applied to such 
payment, and where the obligations of the 
Government do not expressly state, upon 
their face, or the law under which they were 
issued does not provide that they shall be 
paid in coin, they ought in right find justice 
be paid in the lawful money of the United 
States. 

Fourth. *Equal taxation of every species 
of property according to its real value, in 
eluding Government bonds and other public 
securities. 

^^ Fifth. One currency for the Govern- 
ment and the people, the laborer and the 
office-holder, the pensioner and the soldier, 
the producer and the bond-holder." 

This is understood by the followers of 
the party to mean gold, greenbacks, or 
repudiation, to suit the locality. 

The Nashville Union and Dispatch, a 
Denioc.atic sheet, says : 

"'The Democratic platform provides that 
'where the obligations of the Government 
do not expressly state upon their face, orthe 
law under which they were issued does not 
provide thr.t they shalt be paid in coin, they 
ought in right and in justice to be paid in 
the lawful money. of the United States.' — 
When this was reported to the convention it 
was greeted with ' thunders of applause.' 
The Democratic party is, therefore, pledged 
to pay the five-twenty bonds of the United 
States in greenback.s. The party is also 



pledged by the platform to ' one currency for 
the Government and the people, the laborer 
and the oflicc-holder, the pensioner and the 
soldicFj the producer and the bondholder.' 
Tkere is no equivocation or doubt about the 
position of the Democratic i>arty on the 
greenback question. 'J'he convention has 
come fully up to the requirements of the 
Democrats and Conservatives of Tennessee 
and the West oa this issue. And Governor 
Seymour has planted himself fairly and 
squarely on this plank of the platform.— 
Whatever ■ position he may have previously 
assumed, he is now pledged to the payment 
of the United States bonds, known as fire- 
twenties, in greenbacks, and he will honestly 
and faithfully adhere to that position. He 
has never been known to falsify his pledges." 

A Democratic orator in a neighboring 
city recently declared that the platform 
meant and was intended to mean absolute 
repudiation. That the debt having been 
contracted in the prosecution of an nncon- 
stitutional war, was itself unconstitutional 
and void, and could not be legally paid. 

Any practical man will see that the 
greenback and repudiation schemes are sub- 
stantially the same. To force the payment 
of the bonds by flooding the country with 
irredeemable paper is, so far as the people 
are concerned, equivalent to unqualified 
repudiation. 

It would postpone the resumption of 
coin payments indefinitely, disturb values, 
destroy confidence, and end in final, repu- 
diation ; whereas tlie whole difficulty may 
be avoided by bringing greenbacks to the 
gold standard, when it will not matter 
whether the bonds arc paid in gold or 
greenbacks. To keep the public faith is 
to restore the industries and business of 
the country to prosperity, give stability to 
values, employment to labor, and to pro- 
mote economy in public and private affairs. 

The sixth plank of the Democratic plat- 
form calls for the reduction of the army, 
the discontinuance of th.c Freedmcn's Bu- 
reau, and reform in the tax laws. These 
demands have already been anticipated by 
Republican legislation, but not without op- 
position from the Democrats in Congress. 
It further demands that the currency ho 
made good, but does not suggest how this 
ia to be done. It is therefore inferred that 
it is to be done by an issue of greenbacks 
to pay the five-twenty bonds. 

The demand of the Democracy for the 
protection of American citizens abroad has 
also been anticipated by act of Congress, 
by which it is made the duty of the Preei 
dent to aflbrd such protection. 



The platform further adopts the Repub- 
lican policy in regard to the public lands. 

'I'he administration of Andrew Johnson 
is fully endorsed. 

It enters up a long list of charges against 
the Republican party, which have been in 
the moutlf of every rebel and Copperhead 
from the beginning of the rebellion to the 
present time. 

It will be seen by a careful perusal of 
the Democratic platform that it practi- 
cally confesses judgment upon every issue, 
except that of the public faith and the res- 
ton tion of the Union, and on these sub- 
jects it declares substantially that, the cur- 
rency shall be made good by violating the 
national obligations, and' then issuing the 
nation's promises to pay, just what it re- 
fuses to pay. First, discredit the Govern- 
ment paper and then force it upon the peo- 
ple. And on the question of restoring the 
Union it declares that, to the extent that 
restoration has been effected, it shall be de- 
stroyed, and the States be remitted to the 
condition they were in at the close of the 
rebellion, subject to the control of the rebel 
leaders. As they declared the war a fail- 
ure in 18G4, they declare restoration a fail- 
ure in 1868. 

But they further declare that, if entrusted 
with power they will make restoration a 
failure, by force of arms if needs be, and 
by Executive power will compel the ad- 
mission of rebel leaders into Congress and 
the other departments of the Government. 

Thus it its the Democrats contend for the 
issue of an irredeemable currency and the 
restoration of the rebellion ; and the Re- 
publicans contend for the maintenance of 
the public faith and the restoration of the 
Union. These are the issues, and the only 
issues, presented by the Democracy. 

THE TESTIMONY. 

When the rebellion was at its zenith, in 
the very height of its powrr, Fer.vaxdo 
Wood, then as now, a Democratic leader, 
said: 

"The war should cease, because it should 
never have been commenced, inasmuch as 
there is no coercive military power in the 
Federal Goverumeitt as against the States, 
are sovereign, and in possession of all which 
power not delegated. If power of coercion 
exists at all, it is legal and not military." 

Mr. Wood desired to have the Union 
armies withdrawn, and the rebellion put 
down by a suit in court. He denied the 
power of coercion, but insisted that if it 
existed at all it was legal and noi military. 



HOW IS IT XOW? 

Mr. Wood and his associates do not like 
the reconstructed governments. What is 
the remedy they propose? Is it legal or 
military 1 General Blair has already an- 
swered, on a precedin;^ P^gc that, it is 
military and not legal; That the Demo- 
cratic President to bo elected must, in dc- 
liance of law and of the law-making power, 
destroy thoseStates, undo what has been 
done, ibrce the representatives of the rebel 
oligarchy into the Cabinet and the Na- 
tional Councils, and ^'compel the Senate to 
submit," And it was because of this de- 
claration that F. P. Blair, Jr., was choacH 
as tho representative of a proposed rebel- 
lion which, tho Democratic Icadet.-J, North 
and South, are advocating and organizing. 

WII.iT THE DEMOCKATIC LEADERS SAY. 
TOOMBS. 

Mr. Robert Toonabs, in his late Georgia 
speech argued that all the action of the 
Government in reference to the South for 
the last three years was void and of no 
effect. 
The St. Louis Times declares : 
" If Mr. Blair become President, and 
swear to obey the Constitution, and fail to 
overthrow the oligarchy established by 
Brownlow in Tennessee, Blair would be 
perjured." 

"There is but one way to restore the 
Government and the Constitution, and that 
is for the President elect to declare these 
(reconstruction) acts null and void, compel 
the army to undo its usurpations at the 
South, disperse the carpet-bag State gov- 
ernments, allow the white people to reor- 
ganize their own governments, and elect 
Senators and BcprGseutativcs.'" — Blair's 
letter. 

GOVERNOR VAKCE. 

''What the Confederacy fought for would 
be won by the election of Seymour and 
Blair." 

A. II. Stephens said, when tho Confed- 
eracy was organized that, it was to estab- 
lish a government whose corner-stone was 
slavery. That is what tho Coaederacy 
fought for, it is what Vance says they will 
gain by the election of Seymour and Blair. 

ANDREW JOHNSO.V. 

In his late veto message, Mr. Johnson 
says: 

"All the State governments ocganized in 
those States under acts of Congress, and 
under military control, are illegitimate and 



of no validity whatever ; and the votes cast 
in those States for Preeident and Vice Pres- 
ident, in pursuance of acts passed since the 
4:th of March, 18G7, and in obedience to the 
so-called reconstruction acts of Congress, 
cannot bo legally received and counted ; 
while tho only votes in those States that 
can be legally cast and counted will be those 
cast in pursuance of tho law.i in force in 
tho several States prior to the legislation 
by Congress upon the subject of reconstruc- 
tion.'' 

Will Mr. Johnson, as General Blair sug- 
gests, use the array to abolish tho reorgan- 
ized States ? Tie has by solemn proclama- 
tion declared that the governments found 
in the rebel States when the war closed 
were usurpations and void, and he abolished 
them by military edict. He now declares 
that all the governments organized under 
acts of Congress are illegitimato and of no 
validity. What then? Only this, that the 
governments organized by the military 
without authority of law, are legal, and 
votes under these governments must be 
counted; while governments organized under 
military rule, and under authority of law, 
are of no validity and votes under them want 
not be counted. 

So that in the mind of Mr. Johnson, Gen- 
eral Blair and the Democratic party, it is 
the law enacted in pursuance of the Consti- 
tution which vitiates tlic Government, and 
the absence of law which validates them. 

This is precisely the position assumed in 
tho Democratic platform, only the Conven- 
tion was too cowardly to state it as clearly 
as has Mr. Johnson, Gen. Blair and Gov- 
ernor Vance. But lot us call otlior wit- 
nesses. 

GENERA?. I.AWTON. 

. 'I'he ex-Confedoratc General A. R. Law- 
ton, said in a speech at Savannali, Ga. : ' 
"Now, for the first time, we have aplat- 
foim of principles and leaders around whom 
we could rally. It was tho noblest, best, 
boldest declaration of principles ever laid 
down in the United States, and the demon- 
stration hero to-night thows it was in. uni- 
son with the feel jigs of the people. There 
was nothing that the South wanted that 
was not there. The military despotism 
which has held us in thraldom was there 
set in its proper light. Fur the first time 
we have a platform we can adhere to. We 
have a work to do which can be accom- 
plished. We have leaders to rcpu-sent those 
principles who will carry u.s out of the 
'Slough of Despond." Peace has it8 vie- 



tones as well as war ; those great principles 
for which we fonght. aud which we- feared 
were lost, may yet be achieved." 

A KEBEL NEWSPAPER. 

The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle, a bitter 
anti-reconstruction journal, quotes Sey- 
Eiour's speech delivered on his election as 
permanent President of the New York 
Convention, and Blair's infamous letter. 
It then says : 

" The sentiments expressed by both can- 
didates are consonant with the views and 
wishes of the Southern people, who only 
seek for that measure of justice which the 
Constitution and laws guaranty to every 
State and citizen. General Blair has only 
one way ia which these oiitrages on the 
Constitution can be checked a.nd remedied 
and the Government restored. It is this : 
The President shall declare the reconstruc- 
tion acts null and void, compel the army 
to undo its usurpations at the South, dis- 
perse the carpet-bag State governments, 
allow the white people to recognize their 
own governments and elect Senators and 
Representatives." 

The Mobile Tribune SLSserts : 

"The great Democratic party will rise 
in its might and majesty, and pulverize 
and purge the Congress, just as Cromwell 
purged the long Parliament. The signs of 
the times are pregnant with resistance to 
Radical tyranny, and the dagger of Brutus 
may aid in accomplishing our redemption 
from Radical rule, ruin, and usurpation." 

Does this mean that they will murder 
Seymour, if elected, that Blair may rule? 

MGRK REBEIi WITNESSES. 

At the Democratic convention held in 
Atlanta, Ga., one of the speakers, Clarke by 
ijame, "pledged himself before God to 
fight to the last the new governments that 
had been set up in the South." 

The Memphis (Tenn.) Avalanche, in al- 
luding to Blair's letter, says : 

"For uttering similar sentiments to the 
above we have been denounced and called 
impudent. Had the above extract appeared 
in the AvalancJic as editorial, the political 
fossils would have raised their hands in 
holy horror, and stigmatized us as a revo- 
lutionist. We would have been taunted 
with the worn-out stereotyped complaint 
that such imprudent expressions injure the 
Northern Democracy and the Southern peo- 
ple in the North. But, strange to say, it 
was the publication of the letter, from which 
we take the above extracts, that secured 



Mr. Blair his nomination for the Vice Pres- 
idency. Thus it will be seen that the North 
is far ahead of the South. They are rife 
for revolution." 

The Charlottville (Va.) Chronicle says : 

"General Blair was an Abolitionist and a 
war man •, but those are dead issues, and, 
if he was sincere in his recent letter, he- 
will anstuer our purpose." 

Humphrey Marshall asserted in his Louis- 
ville speech that if the Democratic ticket 
Avas elected his party would "wipe out" all 
that had been done in the wuy of recon- 
struction, and the fourteenth amendment 
to the Constitution. 

John Forsyth proclaims, through the col- 
umns of tlie Mobile Advertiser: 

"Mississippi must vote, and the Democ- 
racy loill see to its being counted. Texas 
and Virginia cannot go through with the 
forms of the Radical programme in time 
to bo admitted before the election, as Con- 
gress will adjourn beforehand. But they 
must votei^ 

AYc summon thc!^e rebel witnesses — first, 
because they have the control of the Dem- 
ocratic pai-ty, and, second, because they 
arc franker and honester men than the 
Copperheads'. 

Lest this may be disputed we place upon 
the stand 

EX-REBEL GENERAL WADE IlA.MrTON. 

In his speech at Charleston, after his 
return from the Democratic Convention, 
Mr. Hampton told the people that being 
on the committee onresolutions in the 
Tammany Convention, when itwas proposed 
to insert the clause declaring that the 
"right of suffrage belongs tothe States," 
he shrcwedly asked what wasto be under- 
stood by "States." 

" I agreed to the propositions, but at the 
same time said that it seemed to me that 
they had omitted one very vital point, 
which was to declare to what States the 
doctrine applied. I thought it was neces- 
sary to guard and limit that declaration, 
and to the end that we might know at what 
time we could go back and say who were 
the citizens of the States, I asled that they 
icoidd declare that these questions belonged 
to the States imdcr ;]ieir Constitutions up 
to the year IS65.'' 

To this the Northern and Western men 
in the Convention objected as imprudent: 

" Gentlemen were there from the North, 
South, East, and West, and by all we were 
met with extreme cordiality. They paid 
they were willing to cive us everything de- 



sired ; but xve of the South must rcracmher 
that they had a great fight to make, and it 
would not he •policy to place vpon fliat 
'platform that xchichwoidd engender preju- 
dice at the North. They, however, pledf^cd 
themselves to do all in their poM'er to re- 
lieve the Southern States, and to restore to 
us the constitution as it had existed. As we 
were met in such a kindly spirit, I could 
not but reciprocate it. I kncv that I was 
representing; the feelings of my people 
when I did so, and I told them that I 
would withdraw all the resolutions I had 
offei'ed, and no doubt other Southern dele- 
gates would do the same, and would accept 
the resolutions oQered by Hon. Mr. Bayard, 
the Senator from Delaware, which declared 
that_ the right of suffrage belonged to the 
States. I said I would take the resolutions 
if they would allow me to add Ijut three 
•words, which you will find embodied in the 
platform. I added this : ^And we declare 
thatthe Reconstruction acts are revolution- 
aryj unconstitutional, and void'' When 
I proposed that, every single member of 
the committee — and the warmest men in it 
were men from the North — came forward 
and said they would carry it out to the 
end. Having thus pledged themselves, I 
feel assured that when the Democratic 
party come to triumph they will show us a 
remedy for our misfortunes in their own 
good time, for which I am perfectly willing 
to wait. Such is the history of our plat- 
form, and such were the motives which 
governed the committee in its formatiou." 

To clinch the nail, the men of Hampton's 
mind secured the nomination of JMr. Blair, 
who had already declared publicly that the 
State governments in the Southern States 
must be, and if he had power should be, 
overthrown, by military force if necessary. 

There is a whole volume in this short 
speech of General Uarapton. It disclosed 
the fact, Grst, that he, (Hampton,) an ex- 
rebel general, dictated the Democratic 
flatform on the subject of reconstruction, 
s not this a complete surrender to the 
rebel leaders? AVhat more could the reb- 
els ask than to dictate tJio terms of settle- 
ment, had they been the conquerors instead 
of being the conquered? Did Leo pre- 
scribe terms to Grant at Appomattox? 
Yet here is (iencral Hampton prescribing 
terms to tlic Democratic Convention. 
Could subserviency go lower, or cowardice 
sink a party deeper, tlian does this one fact ? 

But, second, Mr. Hampton says he let 
up on the Democracy because they liad a 
hard row to lioo ia the loyal States, and 



they thought, therefore, that a plain dccla- 
tion of what they meant imprudent. It 
would not do to let the people of the North 
know just what they intended. The 
real purpose of the platfcrm must 1^ kept 
from the people. But the committee prom- 
ised him all he desired, and the warmest 
men in making these pledges were from 
the North. It was because of these warm 
demonstrations that General Hampton con- 
sented to withdraw his other propositions. 
He could not find it in his heart to force 
these Northern Democrats to tell the hon- 
est truth before the people. Therefore he 
considerately joined in to help cheat the 
people of the North, where the fight was 
to be hard, but in the South he must and 
would tell the truth. 

Any one who will carefully read this 
speech of Hampton's will be convinced 
that the whole Democratic platform is a 
swindle, as are the candidates, and but for 
Hampton's courage and Blair's folly in 
disclosing the cheat, and making known 
the real purposes of the party, they would 
have stood a little chance of imposing 
upon some honest Democrats ; but now 
that the fraud is expose* their plan is 
ruined. 

MORE WITXESSKS. 

But here are a few more choice crumbs 
from rebel sources : 

" The Montgomery (Confederate) con- 
stitution is better than oars, (United 
States.") — Horatio Seymour to Judge liug- 
gles, ill 18G1. 

' ' The -Ith of July has ceased to be of the 
slightest interest to the Democracy, partic- 
ularly of the South." — Richmond Exam- 
iner. 

" The spirit of Wilkes Booth still lives, 
thank God! Therefore, take courage 1' 
Seymour, Blair, and the revival of the 
great cause is the motto . of every true 
man ! ' '—Pine Bluff ( Ark. ) Vindicalor. 

The New York 11 orZii says : 

"For as many crimes against law. Con- 
stitution, and human nature as our Con- 
gress C(^mmit?, the British people would 
smash Parliament and hang peers and com- 
moners in Hyde Park. 

"Blood is tliicker than water. Race stands 
by race, all except rump Congressmen. 
They stand by the negroes whom they stir 
up to rebellion. 

"The new rebellion will array the people 
of the United States against two hundred 
thousand negroes and two hundred whir^ 



negroes in Congress. God save the radical 
rebels if Ihey bring on more var, for the 
people won't 8ave them. 

" In case of a new rebellion Jefferson 
Davis Avill have a chance to go bail for his 
bondsman, whose paper now stirs up the 
war." 

THE IIONKSTY A.VD PATRIOTISM OF SEY.\I0VK 
EXPLAINED. 

Captain jMarshall, a brother of Thomas 
Marshall, said, at a recent Kentucky Dem- 
ocratic ratification, "that ho was enthusias- 
tic in support of Seymour, and gave his 
reasons therefor. Seymour was nominated 
as a War Democrat, for the reason that no 
other could win. He was called a. AVar 
Democrat, but ho had never given any aid 
or support to the Government in prosecu- 
tion of the war when it could be avoided. 
In ISGIi, when the rebel troops were in 
Pennsylvania, and the Government called 
on Seymour, who was then Governor of 
New York, to furnish troops to expel 
them, he answered in the same manner, if 
not in the same language, as the Governor 
of Kentucky in 18G1, viz : that he would 
not send them.* He did send them, how- 
ever, for the reason that he was unable to 
do otherwise." 

UxicA, N. Y., July 21, 18G8. 

DeauSii; : — Your letter of the 16th inst. 
to Governor Seymour is received. He 
directs me to answer your interrogatories, 
and say he docs not o'.vn a United States 
bond, and never did own one ; and he never 
dealt in bonds or Ijanking of any kind. 
Vcrv respectfully yours, 

B. D. Noxox, Jr. 
To it. 11. DuNX, Esq., Bloomingtoii, lU. 

This testimony ought to be satisfactory 
to rebels, it certainly will be to loyal men. 
Mere is his own statement that he would 
not trust the Government, and of his friend 
that he never aided it, even in his official 
capacity, except as he was forced to. Nom- 
inated as a War Democrat: 1st. Because 
they could elect no other ; and 2d. Because 
he was opposed to the war and sympathised 
with the rebellion. Seymour and the i^lat- 
form arc an exact match. Cotli swindles, 
contrived and selected to cheat the people 
of the loyal States, and serve the purposes 
of the rebel leaders. Seymour himself ad- 
mitting that ho would be dishonored if lie 
accepted the nomination. No witnesses 
are needed to prove that he then spoke the 
truth. 



In view of the facts hereinbefore pre- 
sented, we charge the Democratic party : 

1st. That it has proved false to its early 
record and history, false to liberty, false 
to the country, its laws and Constitution, 
and false to the people whom it seeks to 
govern. 

2d. That it in no honest sense represent? 
the loyal people of the nation, bat on the 
contrary; is consorting with, and controlled 
by, the disloyal and despotic partisan 
leaders who organized and conducted a 
gigantic rebellion against Constitutional 
liberty and in the interests of a slave-hold- 
ing oligarchy. 

3d. That by the confession of its own 
leading advocates it has, by its national 
delegates in convention assembled, adopted 
and published to the country a platform of 
principles for the purpose of cheating the 
loyal people into its support, while it rests 
under secret pledges to rebel leaders to 
give them all they desire. . 

4th. That while professing veneration 
for the Union and the Constitution, it 
stands pledged to destroy the one and dis- 
regard the other. 

.'ith. That its candidate for the chief 
office by the confession of his own partisans 
is, and has been, a foe to the Government 
and a friend to the conspiracy for its de- 
struction; that professing to be a War Demo- 
crat, he is and was a rebel in disguise, as 
is proven by his past record and the un- 
contradicted statements of the rebel lead- 
ers who placed him in nomination. That 
he has been thrust upon the party, against 
the judgment and wishes of its honest sup- 
porters, and by a clique of corrupt and 
disloyal leaders. 

6th. That its candidate for the second 
office is in open and undisscmblcd sym- 
pathy with the rebel leaders, and pledged 
to re-open the conflict against the Union 
if entrusted with power. 

7th. That, as claimed by the rebel lead- 
ers and press of the South, and not denied 
by leaders or press in the North, the elec- 
tion of these candidates upon this platform 
will be the defeat of loyalty, the triumph 
of treason, and the renewal of rebeUion. 
If these are the objects for which Demo- 
crats desire to vote, tlien Seymour and 
Blair arc the men to vote for. If there 
are Democrats, and we believe there are, 
who desire a restored Union, just laws, 
the niaintenance of tlic public faith, and 
tlie peace and prosperity of the llepublic, 
let them vote for Grant and Cqlfax. 



riUXTED at TlIK C:KI; at P.EPL-Bl.lC okvick, wasiiixgtox, d. c. 



